Christmas
by akaJB
Summary: Okay, the title in there says Christmas miracle.. but not really true... just a short christmas piece.. probably will just stay the one chapter too... anyway.. tell me what you think.. no couples. R&R please :
1. Default Chapter

A Christmas Miracle

By Joey

Disclaimer: Of course I don't own them. Do you think I'd be doing this if I did? I'd be having a little Christmas fun of my own with a couple of them.. and coming up with ways to torture them on the show. Like Nick and guns, anyone ever notice how he always cries when there's a gun pointed at him? It's very sad, poor Nicky… I'll comfort you… evil grin. 

Anyhoo… I've been a little.. no a lot… depressed towards Christmas, so I thought I'd write a little Christmas story in an attempt to cheer myself up. :)

So.. tell me what you think please :) 

He peered around the corner, keeping the bag hidden behind his back. When the coast was clear he moved for quickly, dashing for the break room door, where he stopped, intently searching the room through the window for signs of life. When he was sure that there was no one in there he pulled the door open a crack and slipped into the room, swiftly shutting the door behind him. He pulled the blinds down over the window, turning the lock with a quick move of his hand. 

Once this was all done he started to breath again as he moved forward into the room, taking in the small attempts that had been made to provide Christmas cheer. There was a lonely string of lights along one wall, as well as a small clump of mistletoe hanging in the center of the room. On the counter sat a small Charlie Brown Christmas tree, no ornaments except for a simple star on the top that caused the tree to almost bend over in half. On the fridge was a picture of Santa climbing down a chimney thanks to Lindsay's artistic talents. But other than these few reminders of Christmas, the room was empty, with just a half full pot of coffee sitting on its burner, and an open newspaper on the table. 

After taking in the decorations, or lack of, he moved forward to the table where he emptied out his bag. He turned it upside down, letting gravity pull the contents from the bag. The fell from the bag in a hurry, scattering themselves across the tabletop, refreshing the mind of the watcher of the contents. 

He gathered up the ornaments for the tree first. There were six of them and he took them over to the counter by the tree. He picked each one up with care, after having dumped them on the table. 

The first one on the tree was for Greg. It was black, with a large music note on the front, surrounded by the names of his favorite bands. On the back was simply written "Greg."

The second one to take it's place of honor was also black, but this one was shaped like a beetle. On its underside was written, "Grissom, guess what kind of beetle I am?"

The third ornament was for Catherine. It was very simple and plain. A gold ornament with a phrase on it, all surrounding the biggest one which proclaimed "success." He wanted to remind her of her successes, and the amount of respect the others carried towards her. The phrase stated "the road not taken" to remind her of the fact that she's led a unique life, but that it's all led to the success in the center. Beside her name was written "we're proud of you."

The next one was an odd shape, one that had taken months to track down (as well as much time on the internet and e-bay). It was a hand holding a group of cards, like one would during a poker game. But instead of having numbers and kings or queens of the cards, there were words on the top of each of the five. Five words that were meant to remind Warrick about life. They were "Live, Laugh, Dream, Hope, Faith." Across the hand, like a tattoo, was Warricks name, as well as the reminder that "we believe in you."

This one had been the hardest to pick out. Secretive people are always the hardest to buy for, because they're not as obvious about their likes and dislikes. They're goals and aspirations in life. Everything's kept behind a wall. Everything's hidden from the world. But he'd found it, he just hoped now that she would appreciate it. Like many of the others, it was simple, a blue sphere, with a single star. Around the star was written "always remember to aim high. If you miss, at least you land among the stars." He knew it was corny, but he figured she'd appreciate the hidden meaning he was trying to get across. On the back in handwriting was Sara. 

The final ornament wasn't towards himself as many would have believed it to be. Instead it was a collective one, meant for the entire team. It was another simple ornament, this one was yellow, the color of friendship, with the word family across the front. He moved back to the table, gathering the remaining decorations, quickly setting them up around the room. 

Once they were all up, he moved to the door. He peeked through the blinds to check for people, before raising them and slipping silently from the room. He hurried through the building, past Greg's lab, and Grissom's office. He exited the building, heading down the street to his Tahoe (he hadn't wanted anyone to know he'd been there). He climbed in and drove by the lab on his way home. 

As he passed by he could see the team pulling into their spots, exiting their vehicles hands full of evidence. He smiled at them as he drove by, before turning off the road towards his home.

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	2. chapter 2

Part 2:

AN: Well I still don't own them. Unfortunately Santa forgot to get them for me. Anyway, I was asked for a second part, here it is. It's still fluff, but whatever, hope you like it :)

Catherine sighed as she climbed out of the Tahoe, walking to the back to open the doors and grab the evidence. It was Christmas eve and instead of being at home with Lindsay, she had gotten unlucky this year and was still at work. At least Grissom had told her she could probably leave early so she'd be home in time to be with Lindsay when she got up to open presents. 

This year Nick was the lucky one to get Christmas eve off, but … then again, it meant he had to work Christmas night by himself. Although knowing Sara, she would show up on Christmas anyways, bored staying at home by herself. Sara.. actually, know that Catherine thought about it, she didn't know what Sara normally did for the holidays. Everyone else often discussed their plans, but not Sara. 

Normally Grissom went and saw his mother on Christmas, but this year it had been impossible to plan it. Instead, he was having Christmas dinner over at her house, a tradition they normally kept for thanksgiving. After the past thanksgiving hadn't worked out, and then Grissom's Christmas plans fell through, they decided to extend it over to Christmas dinner. 

Nick, she knew, normally spent Christmas visiting family as well. If he couldn't make it out there, at least one normally came up to see him. This year, most of his sisters and brothers had new babies, and families of their own and it had been decided that they'd all stay in Texas. Unfortunately that didn't work out with it being possible for Nick to make it home. 

Warrick spent the holidays ever year with his grandma, keeping her company at the nursing home. She knew he was excited about getting over there as soon as they had finished for the night. 

Greg… well.. Greg was Greg. He often reminded her of Lindsay, how he'd get as excited about the holidays as Lindsay would. He'd been wearing a Santa hat to work for the last week, not that anyone minded. He'd also been blasting Christmas music. You think it would be a nice break from the regular stuff he played, except he'd managed to find the oddest versions of the Christmas carols he could find. And then he would continue, playing them back to back as if they were going out of style. There's only so many Christmas songs one can stand to listen to back to back, and Catherine knew that like her, the rest of the CSI's had been thankful for the crime scenes that meant they got to leave the lab. Anyway, Greg, at least from what she heard, was getting together with a bunch of friends from University to celebrate Christmas.

She pushed the thoughts from her head and headed to the front door with the rest of the group. As they entered the hallway between the break room and Greg's lab, Greg came bounding out of his lab to greet them.

"Guess what guys?" Greg asked them excitedly, bouncing on the balls of his feet.

"What's up Greg?" Warrick was the only one with the energy to humor him. 

"Come on, come on. I'll show you," Greg motioned for them to follow him. They all dropped off the evidence in his lab before following him across the hall to the break room.

The first thing Catherine noticed was the added decorations on the walls. On the white board was a drawing of a rooftop which had Santa climbing down the chimney and the reindeers waiting with his sleigh off to the side. Across the top was hung a sign that said Merry Christmas. 

They all stopped a couple of feet into the room, turning their heads around trying to take in all the added decorations. But Greg didn't stop moving until he was beside the Christmas tree.

"Over here," Greg called them all over, and they all fixed their attention on the small tree.

It was now almost completely bent over in double as the weight of the added ornaments took the fight out of the tree to stand tall. 

"Did you do this Greg?" Sara was the first to comment. 

"Nope," Greg shook his head. "Santa did."

It was a very child like statement to make, but they all glanced at their watches after he said that to noticed that it _was_ in fact after midnight and was therefore Christmas. 

"Oh come on Greg, you did this, didn't you," Warrick replied, moving forward to inspect the ornaments. 

"No, I swear I didn't," Greg shook his head frantically from side to side. "I just came in and found it like this." He smiled evilly, "but I think I know who _did_!"

"Really? Who?" Catherine asked, moving forward as well. 

"Oh come on, the great CSI's can't figure it out?" Greg asked, leaning against the counter beside the tree.

"Nick," Grissom finally spoke up. 

"How'd you know?" Greg asked, disappointed his game had ended early. 

"Come on Greg, I'm one of the great CSI's, aren't I?" Grissom laughed at the upset look the lab tech was now sporting. "Besides, he's the only one, besides you, who had would've had a chance to come in and do this."

"What are the ornaments of?" Sara asked, moving forward slightly, trying to get a better look. 

"There's one for each of us," Greg said. "Here, I'll pass them out." He reached up and picked the bug off the tree. "As I'm sure you can tell, this is Grissom's."

Grissom took the ornament carefully in his hand, turning it over to read the writing on the back. A small smile broke out across his face. 

"What's it say?" Warrick asked.

"Guess what kind of beetle I am," Grissom read it off to the others. Everyone broke into laughter, before turning to Greg. 

"Umm.. this black one's mine," Greg showed them his, and they all had another quick laugh. He pulled the blue ornament off the tree next, "this one's for Sara."

Sara read the writing off of hers to the group before looking at it silently. She hadn't had a 'real' Christmas in years. Most of her gift giving over the past years had involved the secret Santa's she's been forced to participate in. To get a gift just because… Sara just stared at the ornament silently, watching the light bounced off it, reflecting blue light onto herself as well as her colleagues.

"Warrick," Greg handed him his ornament. The group got another good laugh out of that one. "I think he's trying to tell you something," Greg told Warrick after he read off the five words. 

Warrick nodded silently. He'd had a conversation with Nick a few weeks prior about gambling and what it did. He remember Nick saying that when you gambled, not only were you chancing your money, but your hopes and dreams. Pretty much gambling could lose you all the words on the cards as well as your money. Money wasn't everything, after all.

"And Catherine," Greg took the second to last ornament off the tree and handed it to her.   
"The road not taken," Catherine read off it to the others. She laughed with them. "I guess you could say that about me," Catherine joked. But she knew the ornament was correct, her choices in life had lead her to where she was now, and she knew she'd never want to change a thing. 

"What's the last ornament?" Grissom asked, the first to notice that they all were holding their own, but one still remained on the tree.

"Oh don't tell me he got himself one," Warrick groaned.

"I don't think so," Sara shook her head. "Nick's not shallow like that."

"And you win the prize," Greg smiled at Sara, pulling it off the tree. He showed it to them all, and they all froze, silent as the read the one word printed across it.

Family.

Nick was right, Grissom realized. While in Las Vegas, besides his mom, these people were … are his family.

Family. A word Sara hadn't believed in for years, but once again it was rearing it's head into her life. But this time, this time, she realized that it wasn't always bad. In some cases, like this one, it was a good thing. These people were her family and her friends, not just her co-workers.

Warrick new from growing up that finding people who accepted you was the only way to lead a happy life. But trying to fit in to be accepted wasn't the same thing. These people… his co-workers had always know him just as he presented himself to them. The true him, he'd refused to let himself lie since Holly's death. And here Nick was showing them all just what he thought of them all, Family. For once he knew he was being completely accepted for who he was. That everyone there knew him, and yet still wanted to be with him.

Greg watched everyone's reaction to the word. So similar to what his had been the hour earlier when he'd found the decorations on his way to grab a cup of coffee. He remembered standing there for minutes just staring at the word. He didn't have any family besides the friends he still had from college, and those one's had actual families still. They didn't put all their family feelings into the group of friends like he did. But now he realized that it didn't matter, because even if his friends didn't want to completely accept him, there was another group of five right there who did. He knew Nick didn't have to include him in the ornaments, and just getting one was a present enough, but to also know that someone thought of him as family. Someone who had a huge family no less was the best feeling in the world.

Catherine had to blink back tears many times, as they kept invading her eyes, threatening to fall. Ever since she'd known the team, Lindsay had known them as Uncle's, (or in Sara's case Aunt). They were as much her family as Lindsay once. She had always looked down on the younger CSI's, especially Greg, as children, people she could stop from making bad choices like she felt she had in her life. But as she'd learned from her ornament, everyone has a path to take, and many of the ones in front of her had joined her on the road not taken. 

The group stood there for a few more minutes before finally shaking out of the reverie that they'd been in. There was work to do, like always. 

Greg stood by the door, watching as they all filed out past him. Sara was the last one out of the room, she stopped beside Greg, turning with him to look at the tree, now standing tall with out the extra weight. "You're right Greg, this year Santa really did come."

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